Schiit Modi DAC and Magni Headphone Amp ($99 each)
Last year at RMAF I asked Jason Stoddard (CEO of Schiit) what percentage of his companies success would he ascribe to its name.

"All of it," said Jason.

And we both threw our heads back and laughed hearty pirate laughs.

I mean, it is a serious game after all. People's livelihoods are at stake here. Is it really reasonable to name a company using what amounts to a fart joke? Shit yes! And I'll tell you why.

It's a two-fingered poke in the eyeballs to all the marketing crap out there. No first-rate strategic marketer would go all-in on the first hand and name the company as a prank. But one of the tricks of great marketing is to know when to break a rule. Take a look at Schiit's website, it's slick and sexyno rules broken there. With this contrast of fart joke name and slick look bubbling in mind, the prospective buyer starts to read about Schiit gear on the website. They get drawn in by the humorous, informative, and friendly tone of the copy. The gear looks good, and the prices seem very reasonable. At that point the readers mind would normally say "this slick company is selling this stuff too cheap, what's the catch?" But the mind knows that no really slick company is going to name themselves Schiit. The mind is now entertained and confused and well prepared to think, "Maybe shit this cheap really can be as good as it looks?" An hour later, after reading all the strongly positive impressions on Head-Fi, the credit card is leaned against the laptop screen smoldering. Add to that all the tech writers salivating to review Schiit gear and unleash double entendres rapid firewell, you've got marketing genius.

Behind the marketing ploy the truth parallels honestly, and therein lies it's strength. Company founders Jason Stoddard and Mike Moffat are long-time high-end audio professionals that simply want to build good gear at reasonable prices. They haven't "bought their own act"; they're not snobby audiophiles. They just know how to design and build good shit, and they get on with it. Jason and Mike are just two down-home, fun professionals that don't take themselves too seriouslyexcept to say they're serious about providing great sounding gear at reasonable prices.

I asked Mike Moffat to give me the rundown on the Modi DAC and Magni Heaphone Amp because I think they're a dandy entry-level desktop rig, but you should have a look for yourself the wide variety of Schiit gear. Start here and click down the product names at the left to see their stuff. It's all good shit.